<p>i accidentally submitted this while i was still writing it (Sry), i will repost soon.</p>
<p>Hi. I am a white male living in New York City. I know that "chances" threads are annoying and silly and really, REALLY get on people's nerves, but I've been perusing this forum more and more often since the start of the schoolyear and I just couldn't resist.</p>
<p>SATs
-SAT IIs: 710 (US History), 800 (Math IIc) and 800 (Spanish).
-SAT I: 740 CR, 740 Math and 770 Writing (10 essay).</p>
<p>I go to a very competitive Manhattan private school. My class size is around 62, usually classes in my high school have 65-70 kids. Over the past five years, two students per year have matriculated at Yale. At least three got in last year, although only two matriculated. We've good relationships with a lot of Ivy league schools. I think we had a couple kids go to Brown last year, one to, two at Princeton, one or two to U Penn, a few to Cornell, and quite a few to Wesleyan. Average SATs are 650CR/M and 640 writing (I think...).</p>
<p>GPA
-my school doesn't calculate GPAs or rank the class
-these GPAs are unweighted:
9th grade - 3.72 (6 academics) 3 A-s, 3 As, 1 B+
10th grade - 3.95 (6 academics) 5 As, 1 A-
11th grade - 3.88 (5 academics, 2 APs) 3 A-s, 2 A-s
12th grade - 1st quarter I have 2 A+s, and either 3 As or 2 As and an A-. So it's a 3.94 at least (if you count A+ as 4.0 instead of 4.33).</p>
<p>You might think that my courseload is easy, but my school is very hard (I think our normal classes might be APs other schools) and I have always taken the toughest courseload allowed.</p>
<p>APs
-School offers no APs for 9th or 10th graders.
-11th grade: AP US (5) and AP Spanish Language (5)
-12th grade: AP Calc BC (A+ so far), AP Stats (A), Advanced Chem (not AP but equally hard; A+ so far).</p>
<p>Extracurriculars
-Varsity squash team 10th grade thru present; co-captain this year.
-Newspaper contributor throughout highschool
-Newspaper treasurer (11th grade)
-Senior business manager for yearbook (12th grade)
-President and co-Founder of the Finance Club (10th grade thru present)
-StreetSquash - tutoring disadvantaged youths
-Peer tutoring (9th grade-present) - I have tutored people in Math and History
-Math League (12th grade)</p>
<p>Summers
-After 9th grade - went to Spain; intensive academic program
- squash camp
-After 10th grade - Intermediate Spanish II at NYU for 6 weeks; had to take this to proceed from Spanish IV to AP; grade: A
- squash camp
-After 11th grade - Summer in China; program was organized organized by Choate; 5 weeks; intensive studying; grade: A</p>
<p>Essays
I have a weird situation with my essays. Most people write them to be funny and charming and personal, and so have I, but the common app essay also shows my analytical side by combining my interest in China and the Chinese language (possible major) with my interests in finance and global markets.
-My common app essay is about my experience in China and how I envisage our relationship with China in the future, how I want to be a part of that. I think it's really interesting, so does everyone that reads it (unless they're lying :( ).
-Supplemental essay: About food; how cooking and eating with people enables me connect with them and learn who they are, what they're really like. There's a striking contrast between the China essay and this one, but I mean that in a good way.
-Both are well written.</p>
<p>Legacy
My father went to Yale, my brother is currently a sophomore. My father is an active alumnus. He does a lot of stuff up in New Haven and has been an alumni interviewer for quite a few years (although he isn't doing it this year, unless I get in early).</p>
<p>I guess that sums it up. I'm sure I forgot stuff, but ... I think I included most of it.</p>
<p>I'd appreciate any thoughts you might have--although I'd prefer it if they're positive ones :p .</p>
<p>You're in dude FOR SURE!!! I mean you have the strongest chances of anyone from SCEA on CC who applied SCEA. You have great test scores, good grades, go to a tough private school, engage in interesting extracurriculars, have AMAZING essays from what you've described, and you're a legacy with an active alumni as a father.</p>
<p>Sit back on your couch, pop a few beers, and watch that acceptance letter roll in.:)</p>
<p>What school do you go to? I also go to a really competitive NYC school... lol</p>
<p>Your best way to assess chances is to see if your counseling office has a scattergram that shows the GPA/SAT for students accepted and rejected from your school over the years. Enough people apply and are accepted for this to give you some idea of where you stand.</p>
<p>I won't give you my take on your chances other than to say you're within the range. evil<em>asian</em>dictator is waaay too optimistic. I think your extracurriculars will be the problem with your application, if there is one. They are very strong for the general population, but not as much for the Yale applicant pool. If you are recruitable for squash, my analysis changes.</p>
<p>ah! i'm not sure whether to hate you or congratulate you. I suppose i'm secretly a little bitter at legacies...</p>
<p>Be careful, though. Don't get too confident. I know a girl (last year) whose parents and siblings were all alumni of Harvard, the parents donated money and were very involved, she had straight A's and amazing EC's (she was the president of like, everything) and she applied early.</p>
<p>She still didn't get in. She's at UPenn now and she's very happy, but her story just goes to show that legacy doesn't give you automatic entrance to the school.</p>
<p>thanks guys. i appreciate the feedback. my grades are slightly different than posted above...they're actually 4 As and a single A+. Same difference really.</p>
<p>evil<em>asian</em>dictator: I wish your opinion were true! </p>
<p>AdmissionsAddict: I'll try and find this information from my counselor--that's probably the best way to assess my chances.</p>
<p>PurpoisePal: So many people think I'm getting in because of my legacy status and my performance, but I know that there is a good chance I won't get accepted. It's good advice not to be too confident...it will make it all the less disappointing if I'm rejected. Thanks.</p>
<p>kwijiborjt: I know I would be at least a little antagonistic toward legacies if I weren't one. The truth is, I just got lucky to be born to a Yalie. It's not something I can help or from which I can absolve myself, nor is it something I should ignore. Just take pride in the fact that if you're good enough to be appyling to Yale, it won't matter where you get your degree. You'll do well no matter what.</p>
<p>Just want to add one thing. That Harvard example is good except that that's Harvard. My friend is applying early this year, and his parents are alumni, and he also has a brother currently attending. The interesting part is that, his brother went to a regular public school and did not have very good ec's or a good SAT score (1150 to be exact) although he did have like a 4.991 gpa. I guess legacy means a lot at a place like Yale.</p>
<p>Yale Alumni Magazine Nov/Dec 2004 <a href="http://www.yalealumnimagazine.com/issues/2004_11/q_a.html%5B/url%5D">http://www.yalealumnimagazine.com/issues/2004_11/q_a.html</a></p>
<p>Yale University President Rick Levin '74PhD was interviewed by Kathrin Lassila '81, a daughter of two Yale PhDs</p>
<p>
[quote]
Y: About 14 percent of last year's entering freshmen were children or grandchildren of alumni of the college, graduate school, or professional schools. The admissions rate for legacies is about 30 percent -- three times the rate for non-legacies.</p>
<p>L: It's important to understand that being a legacy does not guarantee admission to Yale College. But the pool of legacy applicants is substantially stronger than the average of the rest of the pool. The grades and test scores of the legacies we admit are higher than the average of the rest of the admitted class, and the legacies that matriculate achieve higher grades at Yale than non-legacy students with the same high school grades and test scores.
[/quote]
Good Luck :)</p>
<p>You have great credentials, but virtually no one is a shoe in at Yale except for recruited athletes with acceptable credentials and urms with Yale caliber academic credentials. My son applied last year with credentials comparable to yours overall: great kid, great recommendations, stronger legacy credentials than yours (I did a lot a failry significant alumni work), strong athletic credentials (although not a recruit), outstanding and recognized artistic ability, grades a bit weaker than yours but very good (cum laude at excellent private school), SATs of 1470 old way and 2270 new way (800 on new writing test). He was rejected - not waitlisted. Similar result for another boy in his class with similar legacy credentials. You sound great and may get in; but don't count your chickens. I wish you good luck.</p>
<p>You're not stellar (especially your grades, which are the most important factor in the admissions process--far more important than your good SATs), but you fall right in with the majority of strong applicants. Based on your own merits, I'd say you'd have a decent chance at acceptance. However, because of your family, I'd reluctantly say yes--you'll most likely be accepted. I wish you weren't though, cause I really don't want to go to the same school as you. Oh well...congratulations.</p>
<p>I'm not sure how much a legacy connection will do for you (30% is still extremely low!), but I think you'd still stand a chance without that hook. Obviously, being a legacy will be helpful, but eli's post proves that being a legacy doesn't matter all that much.</p>